A prototype Winchester Spanish Model 1873 Lever Action Musket with bayonet dating: 1879 provenance: USA, Rifled, round, 44-40 cal. (or 43 Spanish) barrel, (clean, with barely visible rifling), with Winchester address, King's Improvement and patents, with adjustable rear sight and foresight, small areas of rust. Smooth frame with pitting and rust, tang with pattern, serial number '337xx'. The rear loading gate with small oval checkering. Wooden butt and fore-end, iron ramrod on the left side, only one barrel bracket. Complete with its socket bayonet with leather scabbard (missing chape). Extremely rare. This very rare item was assembled on 19th April 1879 as a possible military weapon for the Spanish government. Only a very few items are known (one in the Rock Island Arsenal Museum), only four more of Musket type are known. Two have been lately sold with serial numbers 33777 and 33903, both very similar to ours.Literature: 'Winchester's New Model of 1873: A tribute, Volume II' by James Gordon, page 511. Gordon writes that only 84 items of this model were manufactured and that only five of them are known. length 124 cm.